>> Poor pumpkin. Many people tend to take it for granted this time of year, knowing pumpkin tortes will grace dessert menus and pumpkin pie will accompany Thanksgiving feasts. But the resilient autumn staple gets a lead role on several entree and drink menus this fall.

Pumpkin baked ziti Bar Cento, 1928 W. 25th St., Cleveland, (216) 344-9944When chef Jonathon Sawyer took his pumpkin baked ziti off the menu last February, a collective sigh rang out from the foodie community. But the classic Italian combination of fresh ricotta, chestnuts, sage brown butter and pancetta baked with diced pumpkin is back in its salty-sweet glory. “Pumpkin has a beautiful taste and flavor,” Sawyer says, adding there is no masking the nutty flavor. “The pumpkin tastes like pumpkin.”

Park farms roast chicken with pepitas and pumpkin hashCrop Bistro, 1400 W. Sixth St., Cleveland, (216) 696-2767A pumpkin is a terrible thing to waste, which is why Crop uses every morsel in its pumpkin hash made from roasted white pumpkins, diced and caramelized twice. “We’re using the whole pumpkin except the skin,” says chef Steve Schimoler. The hash is sautéed with onions and fennel and seasoned with sage and thyme. Even the chicken is pan-roasted in the pumpkin remainder to soak up the flavor. Both are topped with an adobo sauce and pepitas roasted in butter and a chipotle seasoning.